Transit App Needs A Push

Judging by the enthusiastic comments on today’s column there’s plenty of public support for the Windsor Transit app developed by University of Windsor student Sehaj Chawla.

Just a suggestion to the commenters, but you could help push this thing through to approval by sending similar e-mails to your city councillor, especially if he is one of the four members of city council who sit on the Transit Windsor board.

They are: Ward 8 Coun. Bill Marra, who is chairman of the board, Ward 3 Coun. Fulvio Valentinis, Ward 5 Coun. Ed Sleiman, and of course Ward 10 Coun. Al Maghnieh, who is identified as such in the column.

It’s pretty obvious the transit workers’ union doesn’t want this app available to the public, because it would also track their productivity if equipped with GPS data, as requested by Chawla and Maghnieh.

Three of the four councillors are leery of offending any voters, especially organized labour, which is why this app is languishing: Marra, Valentinis and Sleiman. But they will side with the public will if pushed to do so.

I’m just starting to get into the apps on my own smart phone, an Android HTC Desire Z. (Don’t bother telling me there are better ones out there — I know that! It was free for a 12-month contract). But I already know enough about the app world to realize the Chawla’s little software package would revolutionize public use of Transit Windsor.

It would make the city a better place to live. And if it includes GPS tracking of the buses, everyone who takes Transit Windsor could co-ordinate their schedules to the buses. For instance, you’d always know when you had enough time to pick up a coffee for the ride. No more shivering in a blizzard.

“If everyone on Transit Windsor saved five or ten minutes per day (by not waiting for buses), imagine how much time everybody would save,” says Chawla. He’s 21, but thinks and talks a decade older and smarter.

I also think Chawla should be paid and credited for his work, even though he told me yesterday he’s offering to give it to Transit Windsor at no cost.

If they won’t pay him the going rate he should get at least a $1,000 honorarium, and a prominent development credit on the app if it is officially adopted by Transit Windsor.

He needs the credit to get himself his first job when he graduates — and it might help to get him a work visa or immigrant status to stay here, which he would like very much.

As a visitor from the developing world, Chawla says he’s puzzled by the unhappiness and negativity he hears from native Windsorites about the state of their city. He thinks we’ve got it pretty good here.

I explained to him it got worse when the auto industry went into the toilet just as he arrived in Canada in 2008. But we locals know that’s not the only reason, don’t we? There’s a certain local mindset at play, too.

“I fell in love with Windsor I guess because it’s the first Canadian city I lived in,” Chawla says. “But I wonder why people don’t have more loyalty to the city.”

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